1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to golf clubs and more particularly, to golf drivers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Golf clubs are generally divided into three main classes. These include the putters, the irons, and the drivers. Since the heads of the latter are typically made of wood, they are often referred to as the wood drivers or simply as the woods. They are typically used by most golfers to drive off the tee toward the hole. The head of a wood driver is formed from an appropriately-shaped piece of solid wood, from which a neck extends to accommodate the club's shaft.
Although wood drivers are used by practically all golfers they suffer from a number of very significant disadvantages. The wood tends to chip, become scratched or otherwise disfigured when impacted by sharp objects, which is undesirable. A metallic sole plate is typically attached to the wood head. Despite the advanced means which are used to fasten the sole plate to the wood head, the solid plate tends to become loose and therefore requires repeated servicing. Also, once a wood head is shaped, and each has to be shaped separately, its properties, such as its lie and loft, are fixed and are not capable of being adjusted. Furthermore, the total weight of the wood head, once shaped, remains fixed and unalterable.
These limitations prevent a golfer, who owns a set of wood drivers which are quite expensive, from modifying some of the woods' properties to suit his personal golfing habits and needs. Frequent use of the woods increases their scratching and disfigurement, and necessitates repeated maintenance to resecure the sole plates. Also, due to the fact that wood drivers are shaped of solid wood, there is no way of compensating for torque and deflection which occur when the wood is used to drive a golf ball.